ABC Blog – A Boozy Crohn’s Blog

Wondering how these things go together? Well, I’m not drinking and pooping at the same time so please don’t get it mixed up. I would love to be drinking right now but I am going back into a strict diet for my own wellbeing.

Could I eat all the things I want to and drink with them? Of course I could and I’ve done it more than just a few times because I hate letting a disease tell me what I can and can’t do. When I’m headstrong and not observing how my body responds, I can do anything I want but then I have to suffer the consequences of it and it typically lasts a few days and it means I’m going to be in my bathroom, not out living life the way I want to.

After spending time at Cleveland Clinic (CC) to learn an alternative to the lifestyle I have now, I have to go cold-turkey with boozy brunching, sugary treats, and a lot of other things that I believe that I love but just like an unhealthy relationship, I love them but they don’t love me back so I have to learn to walk away and remember the impact they have on me instead of glamorizing the things I love about the way it tastes or makes me feel.

In case you don’t know Crohn’s, let me give you a quick intro, it’s a chronic inflammatory disease of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. It most often affects the large and small bowels, though it can wreak havoc on any part of the GI tract. I’m one of the fun lucky ones that also have Colitis and as of this year, sessile polyps.

While I was at CC I found out that I also have Hashimoto thyroiditis; i.e. inflammation of the thyroid gland. I’m undergoing more tests this week back in my home city of Louisville. This all comes with a wide variety of feelings. Does it suck? Sometimes but not all the time and if I live my life right, it will stop sucking as much.

So for the next 6 to 8 weeks I’m going to live and die by this new nutrition plan; which will include me saying adios to any adult beverages. No insta-mom juice, no bourbon, no bubbly, nothing. Zip. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

I want to live a long life and I’m not going to dig my own grave with my fork in one hand and a cocktail in the other. If you’re looking for a group to join for the next two months to hit some of your goals, holler at me and I’ll add you to the group my friends and I have “Whole Thirty Homies” While almost everyone is doing Whole 30 in it, I’m doing the CC’s Renew Diet Plan. Sober living free of added sugars, booze, toxic people and much more. The group makes it feel like you’re the part of a bigger cause. Sometimes I forget that I’m sick just because I drown out the sad parts with joy.

Refresher: No Booze. No Sugar. No Grains.

Just goals, health and a lot of hope.

Life feels like a solitary experience and while various parts of our journey is lived alone, it’s nice to know that even in the confines of your life that limit you, you can use the power of social media to unite yourself with likeminded individuals that give love and support instead of shade and hate.

You can walk alone and youre never really alone in the world when you have real friends that give and receive the love you give. The perfect balance in our imperfect world.

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I'm a 30-something Louisville dweller and aficionado. I am a creative optimist dedicated to helping others through my talents and skills both professionally and philanthropically. This blog serves as the space I've curated to be the home of my writing with a broad range of topics as I blog my way through life, love, and the city of Louisville.